The easiest strategy is to shoot in shutter priority mode and set it to around 1/250th of a sec. Then set the aperture to the DOF effect you want to create and the balancing exposure factor is the ISO where you simply rotate the rear wheel. This is all able to be done whilst looking through the EVF.

I find the opposite to this review. Manual focus is easier with a faster lens. It get a little harder to use focus peaking when a lens is stopped down more.